with Prof. Dr. David Stirrup, University of York

 

 

The settler-state border that separates the US and Canada—from the 49th parallel to the Niagara River—has bisected Indigenous families, homelands, and sacred spaces for centuries. Far from accepting these lines of containment, Indigenous writers and multimodal artists use creative practice to enact physical, political, and epistemic mobility across enforced state boundaries.

 

This talk explores how contemporary Indigenous literature functions as an active spatial theory of refusal and resurgence. By synthesizing the theoretical interventions of Audra Simpson, Mishuana Goeman, and Leanne Betsamosake Simpson, Professor Stirrup will examine how Indigenous literature counter-maps settler geography. Through a cross-genre reading of prose, drama, poetry, and painting—featuring works by James Welch, Louise Erdrich, Beth Brant, and Eric Gansworth— this talk demonstrates how creative storytelling, wielded as a powerful tool of self-determination and political resistance, asserts the continuous, relational presence of Indigenous nations that predate and transcend the settler state.

 

David Stirrup is Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies at the University of York, UK. He is author of Louise Erdrich (Manchester UP, 2010) and Picturing Worlds: Visual Sovereignty in Contemporary Anishinaabe Writing (Michigan State UP, 2020), and editor of eight edited volumes and journal special issues. He is a founding editor of the online journal Transmotion and founding co-director of the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies.

 

This event is organised by the University of Bonn and the North American Studies Program and is a part of the "Current Issues in North American & Cultural Studies Lecture Series".

This event is organized by the University of Bonn. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the organizer directly.